The Curious Case Files of Belle Pines
by tacomuerte
Summary: 16-year old Mabel "Belle" Pines returns to the sleepy, boring town called Gravity Falls for another summer working for her Grunkle Stan. She's ready to renew friendships and ready for romance, but Gravity Falls has other plans. This is a mystery with some romance and adventure. Warning: Physical violence and some parental abuse early. Cover art by MaryTR!
1. Episode 1 Pt 1: Moving Day

Mabel yawned, stretching her arms over her head as she woke up from a not-very-restful night. She had been dreaming about something in between the nightmares that plagued her sleep last night… something important maybe. She couldn't remember, and half-heartedly thought about going back to sleep to see if she could find the dream again. She glanced at the alarm clock reading 6:03 am and sighed. The bed was warm and it was still early and blankets were cozy...

Just as she nodded back off, the realization that today was Moving Day hit her, and she sat up in bed with a big smile, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. For the past four years, she had moved to Gravity Falls the day after school ended for the summer to help her Grunkle Stan run his Mystery Shack, an oddball little shop in the middle of the woods selling fake, strangely popular supernatural memorabilia. The work was boring, but Mabel loved her Grunkle Stan, and she had made some good friends in the weird town. Also it was nice to spend time with her grunkle. Mabel and her parents were the only family he had, and although Mabel didn't like to think about it, Grunkle Stan was old. She wondered what it would be like to be old and running the Mystery Shack herself. That was a bit of an alarming thought. She liked Gravity Falls and loved the Mystery Shack, but she didn't think she wanted that to be her entire life.

 _It's better than here, at least. And there are perks to being in Gravity Falls_ , she thought to herself, but that tied her stomach in knots for reasons she didn't want to deal with until she got to Gravity Falls, so she occupied herself rummaging around the room shoving random items and clothes into a battered suitcase. The chaos of the room soothed her. Mabel liked to think of herself as a free spirit, and the Random Acts of Glitter scattered about her room were a testament to that fact. Unfortunately, most everyone else just thought she was weird. She had struggled to make friends when she was younger. No one wanted their kid palling around with the sweater-obsessed weirdo who spent too much time talking to an invisible friend she kept insisting was her twin brother, which was why her parents had shipped her off to her grunkle's for the summers. They had worried—still worried really—that she spent too much time alone. Mabel had told them they could always give her a real little brother or sister and she wouldn't need to pretend all the time. She had always wanted a sibling, but that hadn't happened. Why her kid brain had went with a brother who always insisted on wearing an ugly hat and the same clothes every day instead of a cool sister to share fashion tips with was a mystery to her.

The suitcase was full, so she grabbed her other, larger suitcase from the closet. _Two months isn't a short stay. Why not take both suitcases?_ Her mom wouldn't like it, but she wasn't the one stuck over thirty miles from a mall with a cranky grunkle who hated clothes shopping. She took a break from packing and worrying about what her mom didn't like and sat on the bed wondering what this summer would be like in Gravity Falls and remembering past trips. That first summer in Oregon, she had resented being sent away. Not that she showed it. Mabel firmly believed that you didn't accomplish anything without a positive attitude and you had to make sure everyone knew how positive you felt. And if you felt like your parents were just tired of you and were dumping you on an old guy you had met maybe twice in your life… well, just dial the happiness up to eleven, and before long it would be real.

That was how she had felt before figuring out there were cool people there. _Maybe they're a little weird yeah, but I like that weirdness more than what everyone here thinks of as normal._ And Mabel had to admit to herself at least—although she would die before admitting it to her parents—that if she had been lonely enough at home to be completely unable to tell apart an imaginary friend from real people, then maybe summers in Gravity Falls and therapy the rest of the year was the right call. Both her parents worked full time, and Mabel's doctor thought it best she have supervision a bit more prepared for what Mabel's therapist called "her particular coping mechanisms"—or as Mabel preferred to call it, "having fun"—than a teenage babysitter who talked on the phone while Mabel and her imaginary friend entertained themselves with projects alone in the other parts of the house during the day.

Mabel frowned. She could almost remember his name but it slipped away from her every time she thought she had it. _Was I dreaming about him?_ She shook her head and bounced up from the mattress. _No time to worry about that. Too much packing to do!_

The second suitcase was close to full. Mabel picked up a mauve sweater with a blue kitten design, but hesitated as she started to stuff it in the suitcase. Flamboyant sweaters had always been her signature, but she was sixteen now and worried sweaters like this might keep her from being taken seriously, which was a new-ish concern. Looking in the closet, she saw an old, brown leather jacket Wendy had given last year when she was going off to Portland for college. Mabel grabbed it and slipped it on. She looked in the mirror and smiled hoping that Wendy would be back this summer. This was going to be her first summer in Gravity Falls without braces and she wanted Wendy to see! She had never told anyone, but the braces had always made her feel self-conscious. She thought the beat-up, weathered leather jacket was a good look for her. Mabel pulled her long, chestnut hair into a ponytail and nodded triumphantly at her reflection in the mirror and winked. Mabel laughed and resumed trying to stuff her whole closet of clothes into the two suitcases she was taking on the trip. Maybe it would be a good idea to take a backpack as well…

* * *

A few hours and one huge fight with her mom and dad over Mabel's desire to drive to Oregon instead of taking the bus later, Mabel was deposited by her parents at the dingy, local bus stop promptly at 9 am with slightly forced hugs and kisses and waves goodbye. She had lost the argument about driving to Oregon, and it had even devolved into her and her parents shouting at each other at the end. _This is so stupid! I saved enough to rent my own car! God, it's so damn unfair!_ Even thinking a curse word caused Mabel to stop and look around in case someone could tell she was thinking it. Then, she sat down on a bench beside the door into the lounge area and fumed. She was mad that she couldn't drive and mad that even thinking a curse word made her feel guilty. Her parents never trusted her and never let her do anything on her own. _They still think I'm a crazy freak who talks to an imaginary twin brother._ Mabel gave her suitcase a hard kick and refused to care if anyone thought she was mad or crazy or wrong or whatever.

Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, she decided this was another time to keep looking on the bright side. At least now she had a lot of extra spending money, and she was laying the groundwork for next summer. Next year would be her last summer in Gravity Falls before she went to college… although that might be an " _if_ she went to college" unless she could finally grind through calculus. She felt sad that she only had this trip and one more before life and responsibility took over, but Mabel was determined that she would make these last two visits be the best two, and driving up in style next summer would be the coolest thing ever!

Mabel's mom and dad thought she would be far too busy getting ready for college next summer and this would be her last summer trip to Oregon. _Stop it, Mabel! Those are sad thoughts and nope!_ This was Moving Day, so instead of being sad she distracted herself while sitting on the bench outside the station by counting the different types and colors of cars in the lot. After less than ten seconds of that, Mabel thought her eyes might melt from boredom.

Her thoughts drifted to the dream she had last night that remained frustratingly slightly out of the reach of her memory. She had never been a good sleeper. Even as a small child, restless nightmares had been the norm instead of the exception. The frequency had reduced a bit the past few years to the point where she could at least get a few hours of sleep each night without being medicated into Zombie Mode, but there was almost always a good chance she would wake up shaking and soaked with sweat. She could never quite remember what had terrified her in her sleep although that worried her parents more than it did her, and she never had nightmares during her summer trips to Grunkle Stan's. Gravity Falls was her safe place.

"Maybe I should move to Gravity Falls or go to college in Portland like Wendy," Mabel said quietly to herself. She noticed her bus pulling up to the curb. She grabbed her ticket out of her backpack and with the past night's dream quickly forgotten, boarded the bus with a smile. She took an empty seat, pulled the leather jacket tight around herself deciding she had chosen wisely not to take the sweaters, and with that drifted off to sleep before the bus even pulled out of the lot.

* * *

The trip required three bus changes and lasted almost ten hours, but finally the little town deep in the middle of the Oregon woods came into sight. Gravity Falls was a picturesque location nestled in the lush forest, and it had a romantic quality as the sun lowered towards the trees in the west with beautiful golds and oranges painting the town with warmth. _Finally!_ Relief and excitement raced through Mabel. She felt like she might start vibrating, but she forced herself to stillness. She wasn't a kid anymore. She needed to be cool about stuff. The bus lurched to a stop and forgetting herself momentarily, Mabel shot up in a very excited and very not-cool manner. She quickly converted into a full stretch. That should look cooler.

 _It's what Wendy would have done_ , she thought to herself. _When in doubt, do what Wendy would do._ Glancing around, none of the few remaining riders or the bus driver seemed to be paying attention, but Mabel had decided coolness was a lifestyle, sort of like yoga. You had to practice all the time or it didn't do any good.

She threw her backpack over her shoulder and once off the bus, dragged her suitcases out of storage. The bus pulled away in a cloud of smoke and noise, and Mabel scanned the street for her Grunkle Stan's car, which was nowhere to be seen.

 _Did he forget I was on my way?_ She wondered. _Maybe I should go to the diner and ask Lazy Susan to use the phone._ Unfortunately, Mabel had killed the charge on her phone halfway through the trip listening to music. She waited for a moment or two just in case Grunkle Stan showed, then started trying to manage her luggage down the block to the diner. Hopefully, she wouldn't have to try to pull the suitcases all the way to the Mystery Shack in the dark. She felt safe in Gravity Falls—safer than anywhere else she had ever been—but trudging a little over three miles in the dark over dirt roads with two large suitcases would be less than ideal.

Mabel had made it a little over halfway to the diner when a long, black car pulled up beside her and stopped. The door opened and out stepped Pacifica Northwest, sole heiress of the obscenely rich Northwest family and youngest in the long line of descendants of the "Gravity Falls City Founder," a fact Mabel knew to be an outright lie. Pacifica was dressed in a pale lilac blouse that complemented her honey-blonde hair and designer jeans that likely cost more than the combined price of everything in both of Mabel's suitcases.

The blonde girl sneered and turned to her parents saying, "I told you peasants carry their own bags, Daddy!"

Her father chuckled and responded, "Would you like us to drop you a little further up the street, Pacifica, darling? No need to associate with such… rabble." Mr. Northwest gave Mabel a cold, appraising stare.

Pacifica turned her head towards Mabel and arched an eyebrow. "Oh no, Daddy! I'll enjoy watching her struggle!" Mabel kept her mouth shut and gave Pacifica a tight smile, which the other girl quickly returned.

Mr. Northwest started to object but was interrupted by his wife. Mrs. Northwest waved her hand, dismissing Pacifica, and stated in a very bored tone, "Very well then. We'll pick you up at nine when the library closes."

Mr. Northwest gave his daughter a stern look, obviously not liking the idea of leaving her in close proximity to The Unwashed Poor or whatever he thought Mabel was. Pacifica shut the car door and blew her parents a kiss. Quickly, the car pulled from the curb and sped away.

"Must be nice to be a Northwest and not have to worry about silly things like speed limits." Mabel said wryly.

Pacifica frowned. "I suppose there are perks." She grabbed the handle of Mabel's larger suitcase and started wheeling it behind her as Mabel resumed her journey towards the diner. It was definitely easier pulling only one suitcase.

During Mabel's first summer in Gravity Falls, she and Pacifica had gotten off to a rocky start to say the least. The two highly competitive girls met at a party fighting over a silly-in-retrospect popularity contest and had loathed each other on sight. Several flare-ups followed, but midway through the summer, she and Pacifica had made peace over miniature golf, of all things, although that had also started as a showdown which would settle who was best once and for all. It was odd how winner-take-all mini golf matches had seemed perfectly logical when Mabel was twelve.

And she was glad she had found common ground with Pacifica. She had a couple of friends in town already, Grenda and Candy, but you couldn't have too many friends. Unfortunately when Pacifica's parents found the two girls sharing ice cream after mini-golf, they had grounded their daughter for the rest of the summer for associating with "bad elements," which Mabel still thought had to qualify as child abuse. No one in Gravity Falls saw Pacifica until after Mabel had returned home. The day after she arrived in Gravity Falls the next summer, Mabel found a note slipped into the Mystery Shack's mailbox signed only with a "P" asking to meet in the town's library and to tell no one. She had hesitated but decided to go anyway, and that was where she and Pacifica renewed their nascent friendship. Pacifica had tried deflecting any and all questions about her grounding, but Mabel had pieced together enough bits and pieces to determine that whatever had happened wasn't good and probably should have involved Child Protective Services. Some of the rumors she had heard from other people made Mabel sick to her stomach, but every time she tried to apologize, Pacifica refused to hear it.

Pacifica gave Mabel a puzzled look. "You could have texted me and I would have met you without Mother and Father along."

Mabel shrugged and sighed. "Phone's dead. You try riding for ten hours with a creeper trying to chat you up. My only escape was putting on my headphones and listening to music… and then pretending to listen to music after my phone died."

Pacifica shuddered at the thought of being trapped with a guy who wouldn't take no for an answer. "They didn't have a power outlet on the bus?"

Mabel laughed. "Ha! No, they definitely don't have those on the bus, and I didn't have time during stops."

Pacifica laughed. "I would have enjoyed having the time to read a nice, long book without interrupting parents," she said with a dreamy expression.

Mabel rolled her eyes. Of course Pacifica would bury her nose in a book. She pretended to only care about fashion and other topics deemed appropriate by her parents around them and the other townspeople, but Mabel knew Pacifica's one true passion were her books. "Thanks for the help with the bags. Are they still giving you a hard time?"

"Always," Pacifica replied with a shrug. "I'm just counting days until I'm out of this town and then it's goodbye forever, Jerk Parents."

Mabel grinned. "I have a driver's license now. Say the word and I'll be here as fast as my dad's Volvo will go."

Pacifica arched her eyebrow again. "And your parents would be okay with you taking the car to another state to pick up a girl with whom they've never even spoken?"

 _She's really quite good at that eyebrow thing,_ thought Mabel. _I'll have to try learning that._ "Who said I'd ask?"

Pacifica raised her hand to her heart, feigning shock.

"What?" Mabel exclaimed, playing along. "I've picked up a thing or two from my grunkle."

The two girls laughed at the idea. Pacifica stopped and pulled her phone out. "Speaking of Mr. Pines, you can use my phone to call him, Belle," she said holding it out to Mabel.

One day out of the blue, Pacifica just told Mabel she thought the name "Mabel" sounded too old-fashioned and informed her that she would be "Belle" from now on. Pacifica explained that it made it easier to pass off to Pacifica's parents as one of her high society friends calling. Despite disagreeing that her name was old-fashioned, Mabel didn't want to be left out of the fun, and had returned the nickname favor deciding Pacifica would be "Pax" instead. Less syllables and much less pretentious. Well, maybe less pretentious. She only knew the word because her old imaginary friend had been into Latin of all things. But it was definitely fewer syllables. Pacifica said "Pax" felt more natural than her actual name.

Trading nicknames had made Pacifica really happy and had cemented Mabel as her best friend. To commemorate the new BFF-status, Pacifica told Mabel about her family's secret: Her ancestor hadn't been the town founder, although Pacifica didn't go into too many details except to say that was the leverage that both got her ungrounded and kept her from being sent to boarding school in Switzerland until she was eighteen. The two girls put on a show in public of pretending to be mortal enemies in case her parents decided the humiliation of their daughter befriending a poor person outweighed the risk of being exposed as frauds.

Mabel took the phone and quickly dialed her uncle who said he was stuck with a tour group but the van was on the way to meet her at the diner before abruptly hanging up. Mabel handed the phone back to Pacifica and relayed the information. "Want to get some pie at the diner?" She asked.

Pacifica looked down nervously. "I don't know."

Mabel regretted the offer. She had no idea how Pacifica endured the situation with her parents. Mabel had issues with her mom and dad but it was nothing like what her friend had to go through. "I'm sorry, Pax. I should know better. It's just… we're sixteen and I don't get why they get to say who you can be friends with and I won't be coming back to Gravity Falls many more times and I like spending time with my best friend." She trailed off and shrugged. The situation sucked.

Pacifica put a hand on Mabel's arm and squeezed. She shook her head. "Not your fault. Like I said… counting down the days."

"If it gets too bad, you could always come stay with me at the Mystery Shack or even back home," Mabel offered.

Pacifica smiled and surprised Mabel with a strong hug. "Thanks, Belle, but my parents would devote their entire lives and fortune to making you and your Grunkle and your parents regret that. Besides, it's only another nineteen months and twelve days." She let Mabel go and the two girls sat on the curb to wait for the van.

"Ooh! Then we could get an apartment in Paris! And we could start a kitten sanctuary!" Mabel said grinning.

"Of course, that would be what you…" Pacifica started but trailed off, narrowing her eyes. "Your braces are gone, and you didn't call me!" She swatted at Mabel's shoulder playfully. "No braces! Switching out the insane sweaters for a leather jacket! You're finally upping your game, Belle!"

"Well, I can't let you turn _all_ the heads, Pax!" Mabel laughed. "And the sweaters are colorful, not insane!" She was glad Pacifica approved. The girl had a great sense of fashion.

Pacifica snorted and then giggled. "You would say that." Pax's face turned serious. "And don't worry about the other stuff."

Mabel started to interrupt, but Pacifica cut her off. "I mean it," she said. "Stop worrying."

Mabel shrugged saying, "I think you're the only person in the world that thinks I worry about anything."

"Well," Pax responded. "No one knows you better than I do."

"It's just that," Mabel began shifting uncomfortably. _I might as well say it._ She hadn't meant to make this so heavy emotionally, but it was what it was at this point. "You aren't just my best friend. You're like a sister to me." She had never admitted that to Pax before. She worried her much cooler friend would laugh it off or find the idea dumb. Mabel didn't think she could handle that, but this was the summer she wasn't going to hesitate because she was worried about being rejected.

"I only rate high enough to be 'like a sister?'" Pax asked with a small smile. "I don't think of you _like_ a sister. I think of you _as_ a sister."

"Quit being a pedantic snob, Pax," Mabel pretend-scolded. "So… sisters? You and me? Against the world?"

Pax hugged her again and said, "Of course. You and me." She broke the hug and nodded indicating something over Mabel's shoulder approaching from behind. "Your ride is here," she said.

As the van approached, they saw a young woman with long red hair driving. "Wendy's back!" Mabel said in entirely too high a pitch. _That's like the opposite of cool,_ she thought. "I mean… it's good to see Wendy again." _Better. Staying cool. Like jelly beans. Wait? Jelly beans are cool right?_

Pacifica rolled her eyes at Mabel. "Sure. I take it we're still pretending then?"

Now it was Mabel's turn to roll her eyes. "I don't know what you mean, Pax, and who is this "we" you speak of?"

"Fine, fine, but let's not repeat last summer which consisted entirely of you pining for a solid two months, shall we?" Pacifica responded with a pretend-exasperated shrug and a half smirk. "Meet up tomorrow? Usual place?" They had long ago found a beautiful, peaceful clearing in the forest almost midway between town and the Mystery Shack, and it had immediately become their special place where they could escape everyone else.

Mabel beamed and hugged her friend goodbye. "Sure! I'll text you when I can make it. Well, as soon as I charge my phone."

Pacifica broke the hug before Wendy parked beside them, but not before whispering in her friend's ear, "Just tell her already."

Mabel couldn't find words to respond before the van stopped beside the girls, and Wendy stepped out to help with the luggage. "Nice jacket, Kid," she said with a wink.

Mabel resisted the urge to smile like a fool. _Play it cool._ She shrugged and said, "Yeah, it's a gift from a friend. She went off to college, and I wasn't sure I would see her again."

Wendy laughed and hugged Mabel while speaking to Pacifica. "Hey, Pacifica. Keeping Mabel company?"

Pacifica sniffed. "I stopped to remark how even the destitute should have enough sense to save up to hire drivers. Buses are disgusting." She quickly turned on her heel and walked backed the way she and Mabel had come in the direction of the town library.

Wendy snorted but didn't say anything until Pacifica was out of earshot. "You two still playing that game? No one will tell her parents."

"Better safe than sorry. And it's not a game," Mabel responded sourly. She probably shouldn't have told Wendy about her and Pax's arrangement, but Wendy was cool and wouldn't tell anyone. Mabel trusted her completely and felt a bit sick to her stomach for responding so bitterly to Wendy's question.

Wendy grimaced. "Yeah, I suppose after what I heard about last time." She coughed and changed the subject. "Anyway, I'm so sorry I only got to be in town for a week while you were here last summer! I couldn't make it back down. It was just too much chaos getting settled in for school." She hugged Mabel again. "It's great to see my favorite girl again!"

Mabel was thrilled but decided to play it off with a nonchalant wave. "Ah, I bet you say that to all the girls!" She reached down and grabbed one of the bags and put it in the back of the van.

"Nope. You're my favorite," Wendy said as she put the other bag in. "Now let's get you home."

Mabel hoped Wendy couldn't see her blush as she climbed into the passenger seat for the ride to the Mystery Shack. "Does this thing have a phone charger?" She asked.


	2. Episode 1 Pt 2: Moving Day Redux

The next morning, Mabel woke up completely refreshed. _No bad dreams for the first time since last summer!_ She felt like running in a big circle in her room cheering, but that would be twelve-year old Mabel's reaction. She paused wondering if maybe she should start asking everyone and not just Pax to refer to her as Belle. That name did sound more mature than Mabel, and maybe she just needed a fresh start to get people to notice she wasn't a little kid now. _Maybe, yeah. Belle does sound pretty._

After briefly considering making her bed before determining it was pointless since she would be sleeping in it again that night, Mabel tried to figure out a cool but subtle way to get Wendy to notice she didn't have braces anymore. Last night on the ride to the Shack, she had done just about everything except shine a flashlight at her own teeth while grinning at Wendy… which might have been worth a laugh, but it certainly wasn't subtle.

With a sigh, she decided breakfast was the superior option to moping. She opened the attic window to let her room air out a bit because it was musty from nearly a year of non-use and she wanted to yell a quick hello to Waddles and Gompers in the yard below. Gompers was oblivious but Waddles gave her a happy oink in return, brightening the morning for Mabel. "There's a pig who knows how to make a girl feel better!" she yelled to him and laughed.

Mabel went downstairs to the kitchen to find Grunkle Stan sitting at the battered kitchen table dressed only in a white t-shirt and boxer shorts drinking coffee. His red fez sat on the table beside a piece of toast he obviously had no intention of eating while he looked at what was either betting sheets or a newspaper. Mabel had little doubt which. He grunted as she entered the room and Mabel giggled before she could even think if that was the mature thing to do. _Oh, well. Baby steps, Mabel!_ She kissed him on the cheek and walked to the counter. She almost picked up the sugar-packed cereal but hesitated and then grabbed an orange and made herself a cup of coffee. She had never drank black coffee in her entire life, so she had no idea if an orange was appropriate with it, but she wasn't backing down now.

When she sat down at the table, Grunkle Stan grunted when he saw her breakfast choice. "Since when do you drink coffee and eat fruit for breakfast?" He sounded as if he thought she was up to something.

"Pssh. I love coffee. The caffeine gives me energy in the morning!" She hoped he bought that and let it go.

He didn't. "Oh, really?" He asked setting his betting sheet down.

"Yes, really," she responded and gave him a very matter-of-fact and very dignified stare. Pax would have been proud.

Grunkle Stan stared back at her and kept staring, and Mabel felt like she might crack at any moment. _Where did he learn how to do this? He doesn't even have kids._

They continued to stare at each other without blinking while Mabel sipped her cup of coffee determined—and so far succeeding!—not to show her disgust at how incredibly awful coffee tasted. _Why do people drink this stuff?_ she thought to herself, but after a few sips she had to admit she could feel the effects.

"You're not fooling me, Kid. You're up to something. Spill," her grunkle stated flatly.

"I'm not a kid, Grunkle Stan. I'm sixteen, and I'm basically like an adult at this point," she responded just as flatly.

The old man's eyebrows shot up. "Oh, so you're in a hurry to grow up, huh?" He picked up his betting slip chuckling.

Now it was Mabel who didn't want to let the subject go. "And I thought that maybe all the sugar wouldn't be good for my teeth, and what with all the money my parents paid the orthodontist, I figure I owe them."

Grunkle Stan looked up and squinted. Then he smiled, "Hey, Kid! You got the braces off! Congrats!"

Mabel was pleased he had noticed, but annoyed that he kept calling her "kid."

"Grunkle Stan, please don't call me that." She did her best to look offended for extra emphasis. Mabel had watched Pax do it a bajillion times and did her best to emulate that look now.

Grunkle Stan only chortled without looking up, meaning she had failed in executing the look properly. _Oh well,_ she thought. _Practice makes perfect._ "I mean it, Grunkle Stan! I'm not a kid. I'm… a young woman." _Yeah, that's what I am!_

"What does that mean?" He asked with an exasperated and puzzled expression.

Mabel shrugged. "It means that I'm a mature young adult who doesn't eat sugary cereal, and I can drive and take care of myself. It means I'm ready to go out into the world on my own and do… adult things." That was vague but should get the point across that she wanted to be treated with the respect due a mature young woman. She wasn't quite sure what adults did most of the time other than work, and she was wary of committing to even more work at the Shack. She still wanted to go out and have fun. Just not little kid fun.

Now Grunkle Stan wasn't laughing. He looked… terrified? "Oh no," was his only response. He sat his coffee down carefully like Mabel had turned into a snake that might strike at any moment.

She sighed. He was being silly and dramatic. "What? I am. See? No braces… New hairstyle…"

"It's a ponytail, Mabel, not a mohawk… Wait, forget I said that before you get ideas!" He exclaimed.

"You're being ridiculous, Grunkle Stan. Now where was I? Oh yeah… No braces… New hairstyle… Cool, new-old jacket… No sweaters. See? Grown up. Ready to go out into the world and make my mark!"

"Yeah, you're all grown up and you want to do 'adult things,' huh?" He responded warily. He paused seeming to think to himself before continuing. "Should we have The Talk before I set you loose on the boys in town?"

Mabel recoiled in horror. "What? No! What why? No! I mean… no! Why? NO! Oh gross!"

"Look, I just want to be a responsible caretaker, you know! If you're supposedly an adult and all then I have a responsibility to make sure you have all the information you need." Stan looked at least as uncomfortable as she felt.

"I don't need that information! I have that information! Don't ask why! Don't ask where! Just don't ask questions!" Mabel was very close to flipping the table over and sprinting away never to return no matter how not-cool that might be.

"Wait. What do you mean don't ask why you don't need the information? And furthermore what do you mean don't ask where you got it?" His tone was such that Mabel felt trapped despite two doors—one back into the Shack proper and one outside—and one window over the kitchen sink all tantalizingly only a few feet away where sweet, sweet freedom waited, and then all she would have to do was find bleach for her brain.

"I go to high school, Grunkle Stan. I mean where do you think I found out about… this… stuff?" She couldn't even utter the actual words in front of her ancient grunkle. _Bleach. Definitely brain bleach. If that doesn't exist, someone should invent it immediately._

This didn't seem to lessen his panic. "School! Who at school? Who do I have to kill?" He stood up as if he was going to immediately drive to Mabel's school where no one was. _Wait… is it just the students who aren't there in the summers?_ It had never occurred to her to wonder if her teachers were at school during summer break.

"Health class, Grunkle Stan! And can we stop talking about this? And never talk about it again? And like find a way to forget it ever happened?" That wasn't quite a lie. She had been taught about these things in health class, but she was also in high school and who didn't talk or hear about sex in high school? Did her grunkle think she was a toddler or something? _Still… ugh._ Mabel realized she was gripping the edge of the table tightly. "God! It's like talking to Mom and Dad." This was possibly the worst day of her life already. "I need more coffee," she said and got up to get some. _Coffee's good for calming your nerves, right?_ she asked herself. Either way, she got the second cup and returned to the table.

Grunkle Stan looked shocked and was fiddling with his fez. "Yeah. Forget all about it. Good. Yes." They both sat drinking coffee with no idea what to say for several minutes. Finally, Grunkle Stan spoke again. "Why don't you take the day off? Look around town and get acclimated or hang out with Wendy and your friends or whatever? Soos can hold down the fort."

A day off was Grunkle Stan's second most heartfelt apology. The biggest apology was an offer of actual money, but there wasn't an asteroid heading towards the planet that Mabel knew of, so that was probably off the table. She nodded in response. It would be good to see Candy and Grenda, too, despite not being as close to them the past couple of years since a lot of her spare time involved sneaking off to hang out with Pacifica and not get her in trouble. "Thanks, Grunkle Stan!" She bounded up and gave him a hug. _Wow! Two cups of coffee DOES give you energy!_ She felt like she could run the three miles to town if she needed.

He returned the hug and said, "Wendy said she would stop by soon. She does as much work now as she did when she was actually employed here… which is none at all." He grumbled and continued. "You can catch a ride with her, or I can give you a ride if she's too busy."

Mabel returned to her chair whispering under her breath, "Awesome! She has to notice the braces came off." She caught herself speaking out loud and hoped Grunkle Stan hadn't heard.

"Or I could drive myself," Mabel suggested.

"No."

"But—"

"No."

"But—"

"No, 'buts,' Mabel. I mean it. No. I am not giving the car to a ki—young woman—who has only had a license for a month."

This was exactly how the conversation had gone with her parents, so Mabel decided that she could let it go and discuss it calmly and rationally later. Besides, Wendy would be here soon!

"Okay, I'm going to go change and get ready! Thanks for the day off!" She was grinning from ear to ear but she didn't care. There was plenty of time to get her cool zen on before Wendy arrived. Mabel gulped the last sip of her coffee and sprang from her chair.

As she ran from the room, she heard Stan sigh and say with exasperation, "Teenagers." Mabel decided to ignore her grumpy grunkle as she sprinted up the stairs to her attic room. There was too much to do! _Agh! I need the right outfit! And is it cool to wear the jacket again, or will I look like I'm trying too hard?_ Her mind was racing but one thing was confirmed. Coffee was good, even if it tasted like butt.

* * *

Mabel faced her second dilemma of the day once she started going through the clothes she had brought for the summer. On the one hand, she regretted not having her sweaters. On the other hand, she didn't think the sweaters would give the impression she wanted to make. She missed them, though. They were warm and secure and funny.

"And safe," she said out loud to Waddles, whom she had brought to the bedroom as an ad hoc fashion consultant where she had already tried on and discarded over half a dozen outfits ranging from "Too Much" to "Are Those Pajamas in Disguise?" to "Waaaay too much." Now she was dressed in a dark green tee shirt with no picture or logo or words on it and jeans while resisting an urge to apply a glitter pattern in the shape of multicolored butterflies to the shirt just to give it a bit of pizzaz. "No, Mabel," she told herself. "Just put the glitter down and don't even look at the stickers." To be safe, she put the glitter and stickers in her sock drawer and shut it forcefully. Waddles oinked approval of this course of action.

"Or is this too plain?" she said continuing her conversation with herself. "Ugh, Mabel, just go with it. It's Wendy. She thinks you're cool… maybe. Unless she hears you talking to yourself like a nut."

She sat on the bed and pushed that thought away. _The only nuts around here are outside with the squirrels._ She saw a glint of light from out of her window. It was Wendy's van approaching. The usual fluttering nerves and excitement she had felt the past couple of summers hit her hard.

"Okay, Mabel. You can do this," She said watching the van pull up to the Mystery Shack and park. "You'll just all casual-like ask if she wants to grab some lunch or something in town. And then just talk. Yeah. Talk. About… things. How am I ever going to get anywhere unless I say… things?" She flopped down on the bed staring at the ceiling. _Probably will work better if I can say something smarter than "things."_

She pulled herself up using the bedpost and ushered Waddles out the door. He immediately bolted down the stairs presumably heading outside, and Mabel left her room rehearsing to herself. "Hey, Wendy! I figured out a couple years ago that I'm into boys _and_ girls. Funny, right? Oh, and I have this huge crush on you. Want to get a slice of pizza? Deep dish or New York?" She rolled her eyes at how lame she sounded. _This is never going to work. Wendy likes boys._

Of course as far as everyone in Gravity Falls knew, so did Mabel. Well, Pax maybe… probably… definitely… totally knew, but Mabel had managed so far to resist talking about it with her. She didn't want a repeat of the one time she had tried to tell someone—her parents to be precise— about who she liked. That probably wasn't fair to Pax or her Grunkle Stan or Soos or anyone else in Gravity Falls. But relations between Mabel and her parents hadn't been good since they had shoved her into therapy for seeing "invisible people," and they didn't seem to receive anything well when it came to their only child.

 _At least mom just cried this time and didn't try to figure out how it was her fault that I was "broken."_ In fairness, neither of her parents had ever come out and said she was broken either over her sexual preferences or over Inviso-Brother as she sometimes liked to think of him. No, it wasn't fair, but Mabel didn't feel like being fair right now, but that only made her feel guilty which made her feel mad and the cycle repeated so on and so forth. She couldn't see a way to stop feeling guilty, though, for causing her parents pain, and she couldn't see a way to stop being mad for feeling guilty for a situation that wasn't her fault.

Mabel had to give her parents credit for handling the aftermath of her coming out moment though. Once everyone had a cooling off period, her parents talked to her and explained that it wasn't that they didn't respect her feelings, but that she had came across as confrontational. _Maybe. I did feel cornered._ It had already been a bad day because any day at school was a bad day, and she had been surprised when her mom and dad had asked if she was ready to start dating when she turned sixteen. Evidently, they hadn't noticed or at least hadn't taken seriously the several years prior of Mabel being very boy-crazy. Looking back on it, she felt a bit embarrassed over that phase, which was why she had toned it down after figuring out that she liked Wendy as maybe more than friends. Had she had toned it down too much? Her parents must have thought she had completely lost interest in anything like dating probably because of all the meds. _Why is everything always so complicated?_ She didn't want to hurt her parents and they had been supportive afterward, but that first day was just so awful she still didn't want to think about it.

Halfway down the stairs, Mabel heard Wendy's voice coming from the gift shop area and pushed the bad thoughts away. _She'll take you seriously, Mabel. She's great, and she has to see I'm not still that goofy kid always trailing after her wanting to tag along with her and her friends._ Mabel smiled and ran her tongue over her teeth just in case some food was there or something. Taking a deep breath, she entered the gift shop determined to be positive.

There was a customer with them, which was odd. Mabel must have missed the other car driving up. The customer was a tall young woman with short, dirty blonde hair. She was laughing at some joke Mabel's grunkle had told. Mabel smiled. Her grunkle could be charming when he wanted to swindle you out of some cash. This girl didn't look like she had a lot of cash, though. She was young—probably around Wendy's age—and was wearing a purple tee shirt so faded that Mabel couldn't tell what the picture was supposed to be anymore, but she did have some boots that Mabel made a mental note to look up online. Boots were cool. Mabel had limited experience with boots but maybe her mom would get her some for Christmas.

Wendy noticed Mabel and waved. "Hi, Mabel! How's my best girl?" The redhead winked and stepped over to give her a hug.

Mabel returned the hug and most definitely did not smell Wendy's hair while they embraced. No, she did not. "Oh, you know…" Mabel shrugged as she broke the hug. The proximity was starting to make her feel nervous. _Just play it cool, Belle._ Maybe if she referred to herself by her nickname, she would start to act like she imagined a Belle would act. She smiled.

Wendy returned the smile but didn't seem to notice the lack of braces, which stung more than Mabel thought it should. She said something to Mabel, but the younger girl had missed it thinking about what she would say on the ride to town.

"What's that? Sorry, Wendy, spaced out trying to figure out… what's up with this jar of eyeballs on the counter." Mabel said as cover.

Wendy scrunched her face for a second. "That's been there for a decade at least, Mabel."

"Oh. I… hadn't seen it. Somehow." _Great. Now I look like an idiot._ She wondered if she could just rewind to the hug and start over. It wasn't fair.

Wendy waved it off. "Don't worry. Come here! I want you to meet Rachel."

The only other person in the gift shop was the girl talking to Stan. _She knows Wendy? Why does a tourist know Wendy?_ Mabel did her best to not grin like a loon because Wendy was holding her hand while she allowed herself to be led by the hand over to where Grunkle Stan and the newcomer stood.

Grunkle Stan spoke as she approached. "Hey k—" He broke off and coughed. "I mean… Mabel."

She silently thanked Grunkle Stan for not calling her a kid.

Wendy let go of Mabel's hand and stood beside the newcomer who had to be Rachel. The boots helped, but even without them Rachel was three or four inches taller than Wendy, who was herself six inches taller than Mabel, meaning Mabel had the unfortunate circumstance of having to crane her head to an uncomfortable degree just to meet Rachel's grey-green eyes.

Mabel took the initiative, giving the new girl a big smile. "Hi, I'm Mabel! You're Rachel?"

Rachel smiled back. "Yeah, nice to meet you."

Wendy stood beside Rachel. "Mabel, I want to introduce you and Stan to Rachel."

"Yeah," Grunkle Stan said. "Rachel here was telling me you've moved in together?"

Wendy nodded. She seemed hesitant to say something.

Mabel spoke up to help her friend. "Oh, you moved out of the dorm? So you're roommates?" It was great that Wendy was making friends and getting to know people in Portland.

Both Wendy and Rachel blushed. "Not exactly," Rachel said.

"What?" asked Mabel. _Nope. Nope. Impossible. I'm projecting._ At least therapy had been good for learning new vocabulary words if nothing else.

Grunkle Stan only said, "Oh" as if he had suddenly clued in. Mabel found it annoying that Stan had jumped incorrectly to the same wildly incorrect conclusion that Mabel had jumped to.

Wendy's face was almost as red as her hair now. "We're not just roommates, Mabel. We're seeing each other, and it's pretty serious." She smiled, and Mabel recognized that smile. It was the same hesitant kind of smile Mabel had given her parents when she explained how she felt about girls. Wendy wanted to know if Mabel and Stan could accept her and Rachel.

Mabel almost laughed and stopped herself, not because it wouldn't be the cool thing to do for once, but because if she did laugh, she was afraid she would just keep laughing like a crazy person which she definitely was not. For a second, she thought she had hysterical blindness but that passed in an instant of dizziness. "That's… so awesome!" Mabel managed to blurt out. Loudly. Probably way too loud.

Wendy blinked, obviously a bit surprised. "Thanks, guys. I knew if anyone would get it, it would be you."

Grunkle Stan shrugged. "Eh, who am I to judge?" He smiled at the couple.

"Yes!" Mabel exclaimed with a forced smile herself. _Why can't I stop shouting?_ "So happy!" She had to keep smiling. Something bad would happen if she stopped. What that was, she didn't know, but she knew with every fibre of her being it was the truth.

"Are you okay, Mabel?" Wendy asked, giving her a very concerned look.

"I'm… sick." Mabel declared. _Still too loud. Not helping._

Rachel immediately put a hand to Mabel's forehead to see if she was feverish while wearing a look of concern. "Do you need to go to the doctor?"

Mabel felt panicked trying to think of a response. _What kind of person just touches a complete stranger? Wendy's dating someone that just grabs other people? Of course, Wendy would be attracted to a good, caring person who is concerned about others and wants to help even if it means invading a person's personal space. Who needs personal space? Not me! Nope. Because Rachel is a good person who is worried about other people. Wendy wouldn't fall in love with an evil sea hag who wanted to devour infants while they sleep, would she? Nope. Great person this Rachel._ "No!" she said emphatically. "Woman trouble." _What? Oh my god did I just say that?_ "Sick again. Gotta go!"

And in a too-late attempt to salvage some sort of dignity, Mabel ran full speed for the stairs leading up to the attic. Halfway up and out of sight of the others, Mabel sat down and gripped the railing trying to find both her balance and her breath. A small laugh escaped, but she managed to contain it. _And I thought the nightmares would stop in Gravity Falls just like every other summer. This is worse than any nightmare._ She could hear them talking below.

Grunkle Stan groaned. "It's going to be a long summer."

"Is she really okay?" Not Wendy's voice. Rachel. She had a pretty voice. At best, Mabel sounded like a cat that had been stepped on, so another mark in Rachel's favor. _And why does she care?_

"I don't know," Wendy responded. "I think maybe we surprised her." She sounded like she was upset, which was Mabel's fault of course, because she was incapable of getting anything right.

"Maybe," Grunkle Stan answered.

Wendy continued, "Mabel is a really sweet kid, Rachel. She's just a bit… high-strung sometimes."

 _Yeah, that's me. Just a high-strung kid. I'll just have mom ship my "crazy" sweaters to me and eat sugary kid cereal until my heart explodes. That would be an improvement over this._ Mabel realized she was thumping her head against the railing of the stair repeatedly. She stopped but her forehead hurt already.

"Well," Rachel said. "I remember when I was that young. She's what? Thirteen? It's a tough age."

Mabel resisted the urge to snap the bannister off the stairs and rush the gift shop to attack Rachel with it. Barely. "Oh that bitch," she whispered. She didn't feel an ounce of guilt either for the first time in her life. If life was going to insist on being unfair, maybe she could be, too.

Wendy laughed and Mabel could hear a tremble in her voice. "She's sixteen, Rachel! She's just… exuberant, you know?"

"And don't call her 'kid' whatever you do," Grunkle Stan warned.

Mabel decided she had had enough and quietly walked upstairs, shutting and locking the attic door behind her. She grabbed her phone from her pocket and texted Pacifica. "Can't meet. Life over. Bye." Hitting send, she stared at the phone for a second. Pax would respond fast and demand answers. Mabel powered down the phone and dropped it on the floor. She crossed the room and lay face down on the bed and cried.

* * *

Over an hour had passed. Fortunately neither Grunkle Stan nor Wendy had come upstairs, which suited Mabel just fine. The tears had stopped and all that Mabel had left were occasional dry sobs. Her face hurt. Her eyes hurt. Her stomach hurt. She didn't even want to think about looking into a mirror. Mostly she had just lain on the bed staring at the ceiling, but for the past few minutes she had written and discarded several letters apologizing to Wendy. Finally, she had one that she felt would at least minimize the damage.

She couldn't stand how upset her friend… and that's all she would ever be, Mabel realized… had sounded. Wendy had to think she was grossed out by her dating Rachel. Mabel couldn't live with that. She would give Wendy the letter tomorrow because there was no way she could do it today looking like a complete mess, and then Mabel would go somewhere far, far away forever. It wasn't a love confession. Mabel had decided that she couldn't put that on Wendy just as she was starting a new relationship, so she had lied, concocting a story about her medication and that earlier was all down to a panic attack that her friend would be moving away from Gravity Falls for good. It was good work. She figured that she had already done a bang up job of lying about how she felt to Wendy, so why not take it to the next level?

Mabel sat the letter on her desk and flopped onto the bed. She tried to just go to sleep but couldn't manage it and it seemed like the day would never end. "Staring at the ceiling won't fix anything, Mabel," she said to her otherwise empty room. _Nothing will fix anything._ She blew out a long sigh. Sitting up, she looked out her bedroom window. Wendy's van was still parked in the lot. _Seriously? Ugh._ She was a prisoner in her own room. She threw herself back down on the bed. Mabel contemplated a complete refusal to interact with human society until at least Wendy left for Portland, or maybe forever.

There was a quiet knock on the door. _No, just no._ She tried to will her grunkle or Wendy—whichever one of them it was—to go away because she knew two things for certain. She wasn't opening that door, and she wasn't speaking. _Not while there are so many interesting cracks in the ceiling and spiderwebs to count._ She figured she could keep herself occupied for a year at least.

"I'm not going away," an exasperated voice said from the other side of the door. It was Pacifica.

Mabel sat up slowly. "Just a second," she said. Mabel briefly considered trying to fix her face and gave a small laugh. _I doubt Pax will want to wait an hour while I do that._ Glancing at the dresser mirror, she revised the estimate to several hours.

Trudging to the door, she unlocked it and pulled it open. It was indeed a very annoyed looking Pacifica on the other side and not her grunkle doing some weird impersonation, which she wouldn't have put past him.

Anger flickered to concern and back again on Pax's face. "Well. You look awful but you're not dead, so the text was obviously a very poor joke."

Mabel turned and slumped back towards her bed. "Shut the door behind you, will you?" She didn't specify on which side of the door she wanted Pacifica. Part of her wanted Pax to leave because wallowing at least sort of made her feel a bit better, and part of her wanted Pax to stay because she was the only person Mabel trusted herself to be around at the moment. She couldn't face anyone else. She flung herself onto the bed. It creaked ominously but didn't break, which wouldn't have surprised Mabel because of course there were still ways life could humiliate her.

Pacifica stepped into the room and shut the door behind her. Mabel watched her lock the door and stand facing it with her back to Mabel for a moment as if she were gathering herself. That was a bit annoying. If anyone had a right to be dramatic right now, it was Mabel. Pax turned to face Mabel and there were tears on her face.

"What's happened, Pax?" Mabel asked concerned.

Pacifica didn't answer immediately. She bent down, untied one of her expensive sneakers, pulled it off, and threw it at Mabel.

"Ow!" Mabel shouted deflecting the shoe from hitting her face with her arm. She sat up yelling, "What the hell, Pax?"

Pacifica shouted right back at her. "I thought something bad had happened to you! First that stupid text and then nothing? I must have texted you two hundred times trying to figure out if you were okay!"

"But—!" Mabel shouted in response, but Pacifica only increased her volume and continued.

"No! No, you do not! Not after I walked over a mile, getting the chauffeur to drop me as close as I dared, and that was _after_ giving my parents a flimsy, stupid excuse about forgetting my headband at the library, which they _WILL_ see through because guess who wasn't wearing a headband yesterday and guess whose mom always monitors precisely what she wears 100% of the time, and guess who's life is over then! That would be my life, Belle! Over! Because you freak out over something and then cut me off after one stupid text less than twenty-four hours after telling me we're supposed to be sisters? Remember that?"

A voice called from downstairs. It was her grunkle. "You two alright up there?"

"YES!" The two girls shouted angrily in unison.

"Just don't kill each other then. Blood is hard to get out of the wood," Grunkle Stan shouted back.

The girls stared at each other for several moments before Pacifica broke the silence. "Does he mean that about the blood? I can never tell when he's joking."

"Neither can I, so I just assume he is. Keeps me sane."

Pax gave a sharp laugh and then remembered she was angry.

Before she could continue, Mabel held up her hand. "Sorry." She lowered her hand and patted the bed indicating Pax should sit down.

Pacifica hesitated for a second but grudgingly came and sat beside her. She stared straight ahead with her chin raised to show Mabel she was furious. It was a look Mabel had seen several times before.

"I shouldn't have turned my phone off," Mabel continued. "It was thoughtless to text you like that and just go silent. And yes, I do remember what I said last night."

Pacifica continued to stare straight ahead.

"I mean it, Pax. I'm sorry. Look, you have to forgive your sister, right?"

Pacifica shrugged, but Mabel could see the anger receding, but she continued looking ahead and not at Mabel. "What happened, Belle?" She asked. "Is it something to do with that trollop I saw outside making out with Wendy?"

Mabel twitched. "Guh! I don't want to talk about it." She let herself drop sideways to lay on the bed and tucked her knees to her chin to give Pacifica room to stay on the bed. Of course, that was the reason. It certainly wasn't because curling into a ball and dying seemed like a super option at the time.

Pax sighed. "You never do."

Mabel only groaned in response.

Pacifica turned her head to face Mabel for the first time since sitting. "Why not? Just… why can't we talk about it, Belle? Do you think I'll judge you for being into girls?"

Mabel shook her head. "No. Why don't we ever talk about your dad hitting you?"

Pacifica flinched. "First, it's not even close to the same thing, Belle."

Mabel knew what she had just said was incredibly stupid. "I'm sorry, Pax. I know it isn't. I'm sorry."

"Second," Pax continued. "Father doesn't hit me. Mother does."

Mabel sat up again. She wasn't sure if she should hug Pacifica or not. "I didn't realize. I—"

Pacifica shook her head and there were tears visibly building in her eyes. "I pried into your secrets. It's only fair if you return the favor."

Mabel risked taking her friend's hand to comfort her and was relieved herself when Pacifica didn't pull away.

"Father prefers not to dirty his hands, so he assigns the chore of disciplining his willful child to Mother. You would think since she doesn't seem to take any joy in anything else that she would just get it over with as quickly as possible, but she…" Pacifica paused for a long moment and Mabel was afraid to even breathe too hard because it might spook her. "Anyway, Father watches of course to make sure it's done to his standards, but he just sits silently judging in his chair while Mother…" Pax trailed off again.

After a moment of silence, Mabel spoke. "I shouldn't have asked. You don't have to tell me anything, Pax."

The blonde girl shrugged. "You're the only person I can tell. I didn't want to burden you with it, though."

Mabel hugged her friend and then pulled back, taking Pacifica by the shoulders. She stared her straight in the eye and said, "Look at me, Pax. You are NOT a burden. And they aren't going to hit you over this. I'll stop them."

"How, Belle?" Pacifica asked with a small, sad smile. "It's not like you can overpower them and it's not like anyone would or could arrest them. And even if you can stop them, you'll be gone at the end of the summer."

"We can run away."

Pacifica looked startled. "You're serious."

"Yeah. I have over a thousand in cash. I saved up to rent a car to drive here and Mom and Dad wouldn't let me, so I brought the cash with me. We can get far away and hide. I know that isn't a lot to you, but it goes farther than you think."

Pacifica squeezed Mabel's hand. "You can't do that to your parents and your grunkle… and Wendy. I can't let you do that."

"Wendy has _Rachel_ ," Mabel said, trying and failing to keep the disgust out of her voice. "Grunkle Stan will be fine. I'll write him. And honestly? I don't care right now what my parents think. They may even be relieved their nut daughter is finally gone."

Pacifica started to respond, but Mabel continued over her. "No, Pax. I know they aren't as bad as your parents. I'm not saying that. But I don't think they like me very much, and I just can't handle another year in that house watching them walk on eggshells over their crazy, bisexual daughter who wakes up most mornings screaming because of nightmares and used to talk to invisible people until she was medicated into a near coma for almost a year."

Mabel took several deep breaths and continued. "And now Wendy probably thinks I'm a hateful, closeted bigot because I panicked when she told me about Rachel. I just… can't anymore."

Pacifica looked surprised. "You're bisexual? I thought you only liked girls. Sorry, I mean… that's not the important part of that. I apologize."

"No, it's okay. And I like both." Mabel responded surprised by Pax's assumption. "You don't remember the two summers I threw myself at every boy that crossed my path?"

"I thought that was… overcompensation," said Pacifica.

"Oh," Mabel said. "That makes a lot of sense actually."

"I shouldn't have assumed, Belle. I apologize," Pacifica said frowning.

"Nah. Don't worry. It's not like I talked about… this," she said as she vaguely gestured at herself. Mabel was still very uncomfortable acknowledging her feelings for Wendy, but she owed this girl she thought of as a sister some honesty at least. She got up and walked to the desk. The letter sat on it daring Mabel to pick it up. Sighing, she snatched it from the desk. It felt like an anchor. Without a word she walked back to the bed and held it out to Pax.

Pacifica had a puzzled expression, but she took the letter and read it quietly while Mabel stared at the floor. When she looked up at Mabel, there were tears in her eyes. "Oh, Belle," she said and stroked Mabel's shoulder.

Mabel blew out a breath. "I might as well just say it. I'm in love with Wendy. I've never told her because I was terrified she would reject me. Every day of my life I feel like a freak and I shouldn't because of this, but I do. You're a better friend to me than I deserve and definitely a better friend than I am to you."

"Done?" Pax asked.

Mabel nodded. She couldn't talk anymore or it would be another round of tears.

"You're my best friend," Pax continued. "And as we established yesterday for the first time officially out loud, we're sisters." She held out her pinky to Mabel.

Mabel hiccuped, but managed not to cry. "A pinky swear?"

Pacifica nodded. "I'm waiting on your finger, Pines."

Mabel held out her pinky and hooked it around Pax's.

Pax cleared her throat. "Okay. I promise to be your best friend. I promise to be your sister. I promise to always be there for you no matter what it takes." She finished with a smile and tears started to fall.

Mabel was crying also. "I promise that I'll be there for you too, sister. I promise I'll help you find a way out of this mess with your parents, and I will always be there for you no matter what it takes. "

Pacifica stood up. "Now want to take a walk in the woods?" She asked.

The woods surrounding Gravity Falls was the place where both girls felt safest. "Yeah," Mabel replied. "But I really don't want to deal with either Wendy or Grunkle Stan right now."

Pax shrugged. "I think we can slip past them. Shall we?"

Mabel responded by putting on her shoes after passing Pacifica's flung sneaker back to her. "Sure, why not? Worst that can happen is we run into Wendy and Rachel and ugh."

Pacifica who had finished putting on her shoe and was now standing squeezed Mabel's shoulder. "You'll get through this, Belle. I know you will."

Mabel nodded and stood up. "Yeah," she agreed even though she didn't believe it herself. Mabel stared at the jacket hanging on the bed post. She was torn on whether to take it or leave it. Even just looking at it hurt too much, but the thought of abandoning the link to Wendy hurt, too. Pacifica for once wasn't acting impatient. Mabel hated being stuck like this. Finally, Mabel went with her gut and grabbed the jacket… and the letter just in case she didn't make it past Wendy. She slipped the jacket on, stuffed the letter in the pocket, and headed for the door. Pax followed close behind.

They made it all the way down the stairs and nearly out the back door when a voice behind them froze the two girls in their tracks. "Where do you two think you're going?"

They both turned to face Mabel's grunkle.

"Hello, Mr. Pines," Pacifica said with a sweet smile.

"Save it," Grunkle Stan responded with a snort. "What are you two up to?"

Mabel shifted uncomfortably and said nothing.

Grunkle Stan saved her the trouble of explaining. "This to do with Wendy and her new girlfriend?"

Mabel nodded.

"And your crush on Wendy?" Grunkle Stan asked.

Mabel's eyes widened in surprise. "How did—?"

Pacifica rolled her eyes at Mabel. "It's obvious to everyone, Belle. Except maybe Wendy."

 _Maybe she already knows?_ Mabel hadn't considered that Wendy might know. Her stomach lurched.

"Who's 'Belle?'" Grunkle Stan asked. "Her name's Mabel."

"I like Belle," Pax retorted with a defiant look.

"And I like Mabel," Grunkle Stan said matter-of-factly. "It was her grandmother's name, and it's a good name."

Mabel interrupted before this could escalate. "I like both, Grunkle Stan. Mabel's a great name and it's unique and fun, but Belle is pretty and sophisticated. I… wouldn't mind being pretty and sophisticated for once."

"Sweetheart," her grunkle started but Mabel waved him off. She knew he wanted to reassure her, but it wouldn't do any good.

"What I would really like right now, Grunkle Stan, is to go for a walk in the woods with Pax… and I don't want to stand here until…" She trailed off not wanting to go into detail.

Grunkle Stan nodded. "I don't know if I like the two of you spending all that time in the woods. It's creepy out there. " He looked as if he wanted to say more and wasn't sure if he should.

It was Pax's turn to snort derisively. "The woods here are the least creepy thing about the entire town."

Grunkle Stan raised his eyebrows. "I'm not so sure about that."

Mabel spoke up. "Yeah, Grunkle Stan. I always feel safe there. It's… calm and kind of… serene." She had heard Pacifica describe the forest that way before and the word fit.

Grunkle Stan now looked rather uncomfortable. "That's not my experience."

Mabel was starting to lose patience. _It's just a walk._ "Grunkle Stan, can't you please just trust me for once?"

"Of course, I trust you, Mabel." He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Okay, just don't stay out too late, alright?"

The two teenagers nodded.

"I'll distract Wendy and Rachel for you," Grunkle Stan continued. He didn't look happy about it, but Mabel was thankful for his help.

"Grunkle Stan," Mabel started, but she couldn't figure out the words. Instead, she just pulled out the letter, folded it, and handed it to her grunkle.

"I'm guessing this is for Wendy?" He asked.

Mabel nodded and blushed.

"Fine, I'll give it to her." He scratched his chin and shrugged. "And Pacifica, I'm calling your parents."

Both Pacifica and Mabel started to object but Grunkle Stan raised his hand and cut off their objections.

"No. I'm calling them, and you don't have to worry, Pacifica. You won't be in trouble." He turned to walk towards the front of the shack where they could now hear Wendy's voice. "Not if they know what's good for them," he continued, obviously just loud enough to make sure that Mabel and Pacifica heard.

The two girls looked at each other nervously. Mabel shrugged. Pacifica shrugged back. Deciding silently that there wasn't much they could do about it anyway, they quietly snuck out the back door and headed into the shadowed forest.

* * *

Their clearing was about an hour's walk from the shack. The girls had found it during Mabel's third summer in Gravity Falls while exploring the parts of the forest not too far from the road before getting lost and ending up deeper inside the forest than intended. Pacifica wasn't overly fond of nature as she liked to put it, but she valued Mabel's friendship and had only put up a moderate fuss during the frequent excursions into the woods. Both of them liked hanging out in town and Mabel suspected that Pax liked the Mystery Shack more than she would admit, but being in town or at the Mystery Shack would have inevitably led to discovery by Pax's parents. Almost everyone in town up to and including Old Man McGucket—who was insane enough to believe he was married to a feral raccoon—avoided the deeper parts of the forest. Mabel's Grunkle Stan was the only person besides themselves who showed no fear of the woods… other than tourists, but as Mabel always said, tourists gonna tourist.

It occurred to Mabel that they had never talked about why neither of them feared the forest. It had just never seemed important to ask, but curiosity got the better of her. "Pax," she said before pausing, not sure if she wanted to or should continue. That was annoying. She had no reason to not ask, but she felt pressure not to talk about it like the kind of pressure she felt not to talk about her feelings for Wendy around her parents. She hated that. She could always sense that they didn't want her to speak about not being normal and they were great at projecting unspoken pressure for her to keep her mouth shut. It made her feel afraid, and ever since meeting her grunkle, Mabel had prided herself on emulating his fearlessness, with one redheaded exception.

She continued. "Pax, are you ever afraid out here?"

Pacifica stopped and looked puzzled. "No," she said. "It's funny, Belle, but I always feel perfectly at ease out here."

Mabel nodded. "Me, too."

"Besides," Pax continued. "You're with me. I've seen you in a fight. Well, not much of a 'fight' really, but it was a good punch."

"Oh, yeah! That time that Gideon grabbed my butt!"

Both girls laughed. Pax said, "I believe your response was a right hook. Very apropros."

Mabel raised an eyebrow wondering how Pax knew what a right hook was. She doubted the other girl had ever thrown a punch.

Pacifica shrugged. "I looked it up."

Mabel sighed loudly and dramatically. "Of course you did."

"Where did you learn to fight, Belle? Did your parents or grunkle take you for self-defense lessons?"

It was Mabel's turn to shrug. "I was the crazy girl in school. That attracts trouble like you wouldn't believe. There was this one time…" she drifted off unsure if she should continue.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want, Belle." Pacifica sounded concerned.

"No, it's okay. Sisters don't keep secrets, right?" Mabel asked but continued without waiting for an answer. "One day at lunch this girl, Susan DeMarcos, dumped a bowl of tomato soup on my head. I was just sitting there by myself at a table. I was kinda talking to my pretend 'brother.' Anyway, she dumps this bowl of hot soup on my head and I lost it on her."

Mabel kicked a rock and it careened off a nearby oak tree. "She had backup. I guess she was smart enough not to do something like that alone. Krissy Martin and Jennifer Ball were with her. I probably shouldn't have went after three of them like that, but I just couldn't take it anymore. I snatched the bowl away from Susan and hit her across the face with it. Shattered the bowl. Broke her nose and she just sat there bleeding. I think her friends were in shock or whatever that I just didn't cry or something stupid like that. I just started punching Krissy and Jennifer ran away. By the time she got help, I had Krissy in a headlock, and it took three teachers to pull me off her. Susan's parents threatened to sue for her medical bills. My parents' insurance settled, and I got dumped in Gravity Falls six weeks later."

"Wow."

"Yeah," Mabel responded. "I think it worked out in the end. I got to come here and meet my Grunkle Stan and you, and Susan's nose is still crooked even after plastic surgery."

Pax took her hand and walked along beside her for a few minutes before speaking again. "I wish I had been there for you, Belle."

"You were after I started coming here for summers. Without you, I don't think I would have made it. My parents and Grunkle Stan love me and I know Soos and Wendy care about me," Mabel said wishing that Wendy cared a bit more in the way she wanted. "But you get me, and I get you. I always felt like I was supposed to have a brother or a sister, and you're that for me." Mabel sighed. "Sorry for babbling."

Pax laughed. "No, it's fine, Belle! I never felt like I was _supposed_ to have a sister, but I'm sure glad I do." She squeezed Belle's hand to reassure her.

They walked the last few minutes to their clearing while holding hands in contemplative silence. When they entered the meadow, Mabel breathed easier leaving the first part of her day behind. She could just let go of the shame she felt even thinking about Wendy and how her fear had held her back.

She laughed and ran to the center, dragging Pax along. It was okay. Pacifica was as happy as she was here. The sun was starting its descent but it wouldn't be dusk for several hours. The smell of damp earth and flowers permeated the air and butterflies fluttered through the air. This was precisely what she needed.

Over an hour passed as the two friends sat on the soft grass of the clearing and chatted about plans for the future when they were old enough to move out on their own. Pax playfully scolded Mabel for her adamant resolve to ditch college at the first opportunity, and Mabel returned the favor by teasing Pax about her secret nerdiness.

"Seriously, Pax," she said with a laugh. "You spend all your time looking perfect just so you can sneak off to read _War and Peace_ without anyone calling you a nerd!"

"Belle, a good book is superior to any loud, obnoxious boy. How many times do I have to say it?" She winked at her friend.

Mabel furrowed her brow. "You know…" she started to say a bit nervously.

Pax cut her off. "Yes, Belle, I do like boys. I would tell you if I felt otherwise. I've simply never met one who was at all interesting. Gravity Falls is nice in its quaint way but have you seen the selection here?"

Mabel snorted in agreement.

Pax laughed loudly. "So ladylike!"

"I've never claimed to be a lady." It was her turn to wink.

"It's overrated. Too many people demanding you be a person you have no interest in being."

"Is that what's wrong with boys outside of Gravity Falls?"

Pax nodded. "They're dreadful. At least, any boy my family approves of is. Maybe one will surprise me someday, though." She shrugged.

"We'll meet plenty of boys when we're running our Parisian cat sanctuary."

Pacifica was silent for a long while. "Let's do that. Let's just… leave and go be happy in Paris or someplace far away."

A deep voice from the shadows at the edge of the clearing interrupted. "I think you'll find, young lady, that it will be difficult to move to Paris once you've been disinherited." It was Pacifica's father. The girls turned quickly to see both her parents were there along with the butler.

 _Why bring the butler?_ Mabel decided rich people could get away with their crazy in ways she couldn't.

Both girls were too shocked to respond. Pacifica's parents continued into the meadow with the butler in tow holding an umbrella up to keep the sun off Mrs. Northwest. He had such a dead expression on his face that Mabel wondered if he was a robot.

Pax placed herself between Mabel and her parents. When Mabel started to move to stand beside her friend, Pacifica waved her off. "No, Belle. It won't help."

Mr. Northwest continued. "We've tolerated your shameful behavior long enough, Pacifica." Her parents stopped in front of Pax. "Say goodbye and come along. You'll never see this urchin again."

He turned his head towards Mabel for the first time she could remember. "I've had my people research you, Ms. Pines, and I find you lacking. Try to contact my daughter again, and I'll have you committed to an institution for the rest of your life, and if your shabby relative ever calls and threatens me again, he'll get his, too." His eyes were like ice. Mabel had met people who disliked and even hated her, but Pax's father didn't hate her. She was nothing to him. He looked at her as if she wasn't even human.

Pax voice shook with anger when she spoke. "Stop threatening her, Father. I won't let you hurt her."

Pacifica's mother laughed short and sharp. Without a word, she struck Pacifica with the back of her hand with as much force as she could muster full across the face.

Pacifica gave a strangled cry and sat on the ground holding her face.

Mabel crouched down and took Pacifica's face in her hands. Her friend's cheek was already darkening and her eye was definitely going to be black soon. A small trickle of blood ran from Pax's nose.

Mabel stood up, pulling her shoulders back and raising her chin. When she looked up at the Northwests she didn't bother to disguise her hatred. Every fight in her life, including the disastrous encounter with Susan and her friends, had been self-defense. This was different. She wanted to hurt them. Mabel had never felt this way in her entire life, but she couldn't let them hit Pax ever again.

She glared up at them, feeling tears forming in her eyes. "You'll never touch my sister again!" She shouted at them.

All they did was laugh like she was some sort of gnat who couldn't possibly hurt them. Mabel clenched her fists tight, ready to show them just how much she could.

That was the moment the sky turned dark red and the ground began to shake.

The Northwests and their butler looked around in terror. Pacifica was still sitting holding her face. Mabel barely registered what was happening through the haze of her rage.

The Northwests turned and fled as fast as they could. Mabel started to give chase, but the ground shook and began to crumble in front of her. The earth was breaking in half between her and the Northwests, forming a deep ravine. She lost sight of Pax's parents as she scrambled to stop short of the gash, but was unable to do so. She fell into the darkness.

* * *

The next thing she could make out was shout from above. "Belle!"

Mabel rubbed her head. She had hit it when she fell, and she had no idea how long she had been down here. Looking up, all she could see was the bright blue sky and a dark shape looking down on her.

"Not so loud, Pax," she said. _This will hurt for a while._ "Was I out for long?"

Pax responded, lowering her voice to a reasonable level. "No, are you hurt?"

Mabel felt a bit wobbly and decided that playing it off as nothing might not be the best idea. "Yeah, I hit my head."

She sat down in the dark. At least it was cool down here. Maybe she could lay down for a bit and rest. Mabel could hear a buzzing, and it took a second or maybe longer for her to recognize that it was Pax talking to her.

"Hey! Belle!" her friend shouted. The alarm in her voice was obvious. "Don't you dare die on me!"

"Shut up, Pax. I'm not dead. Just… dizzy." The concern was touching if a bit annoying. "I want to lie down for a second, okay?" She couldn't understand what the issue was.

"No!"

"Will you stop shouting?" She pleaded in return. Mabel's head hurt bad enough. She immediately regretted shouting back. She just needed to close her eyes for a second.

She heard something odd. It sounded like someone… sliding on dirt? Mabel could barely make out Pax's outline. She realized belatedly that Pax had come down into the ravine.

"What are you doing, Pax? Now we both might be stuck!" She said. The edges of the hole looked very sheer, and Pax was no athlete. Mabel wasn't sure she could get up the walls either. Sometimes, Pacifica was too headstrong, and it was exasperating.

Pax took Mabel's head in her hands. "Oh god! Your head is sticky!" A bright light switched on. It was Pax's phone. She was using it as a flashlight. "It's blood, Belle! There's so much blood!"

Mabel could see that now, but any concern felt distant. She needed to rest to regain her balance before she could do anything.

Pax was still holding her and why was she crying? It didn't matter. She would sleep for a bit and then they could go back to their clearing and just forget about all their troubles. The buzzing had returned. Maybe there were honeybees nearby…

"Honey is nice," she said wondering why Pax looked worried about the bees. The blonde girl was saying something but she was mumbling. "Speak up, Pax. You're mumbling."

For the second time, the sky became dark red. It lasted only for a moment before returning to a natural, bright blue, but suddenly Mabel didn't feel tired. Pax's eyes were shut. She was crying.

Mabel said, "Hey. I feel better, okay? Sorry about that."

Pax looked at her through tears. "Your head. It's… not bleeding."

There was plenty of blood on the ground. Too much really for her to be… Mabel stopped the thought as she didn't like the conclusion she came to. She realized Pax's eye wasn't black any longer.

"Pax… your eye is okay, too."

Her friend felt her own face. "You're right. It doesn't hurt."

They both looked up at the sky. "What was that, Belle?" Pax asked.

Mabel shook her head. "No idea but at least I'm not bleeding out now."

"Don't say that, Belle." Pax was still trembling.

Mabel held her friend and looked around using Pax's light to see if there was a way up. The walls were indeed too sheer.

Pax steadied herself and looked around as well. "Belle, this isn't a natural cave."

Mabel had noticed and nodded in agreement. "This is a tunnel." The end they were at was impassable and there was no way to scale the walls. They were smooth and at least twenty feet high. The other end of the tunnel at least as far as they could see simply stretched into eerie darkness.

At least it should have felt eerie. "Hey, Pax…"

"Yeah?"

"I'm not scared."

Pax took a moment to respond. "Weird. I'm not, either."

"I get that something weird is going on," Mabel continued. "But this feels… familiar?"

"Not exactly," Pacifica answered. "It feels comfortable. Like we've found a lost friend."

"I know I've never been here before. You?"

Mabel received a quick shake of the head as a response.

They both sat there trying to come to grips with what was happening. Pax spoke breaking the silence. "I think forward is our only chance," she said pointing towards the darkness.

Mabel regathered her hair into a ponytail, and then they made their way carefully. As they went, it became obvious the tunnel was manmade. The walls were flat as were the floor and ceiling. Soon they came across light fixtures although no power seemed to be running to them. The two girls looked for a light switch or any way to turn on the lights but couldn't find any.

The tunnel came to a t-section. Both Mabel and Pacifica turned left simultaneously and stopped.

"I don't know why I know this, but we should go left, Pax."

"I know. Shouldn't we be panicked or scared, Belle?"

"Yeah, but I feel calm… really calm actually."

"Same here."

They made their way to the left without another word. After a few hundred feet, the tunnel came to a door. with a strange keypad beside it. Instead of numbers or letters, the buttons were imprinted with strange symbols.

"Okay, I'm stuck," Mabel said. "Looks Greek to me. I have no idea what these mean."

Pax shook her head. "No, Belle, they're not Greek…"

"You know what they are, Pax?"

The blonde girl shook her head again. "No," she answered, but her fingers flew across the symbols punching in a pattern.

The lights flickered on and the door slid open with a rusty screech.

Pax looked at her friend and shrugged. "Don't ask, because I've no idea how I knew."

They stepped through the door. The room was large and nearly empty besides a desk with a computer along one wall, a small shelf of books, and a large mirror on a platform in the middle of the floor. Pax walked towards the mirror as Mabel walked towards the computer and book shelf.

The computer was a burnt shell. Something had destroyed it but the room otherwise seemed undamaged. Turning to the shelf, there were books on mathematics and physics and other science-y type stuff. Mabel started to turn away when she noticed the corner of a book hidden under the bottom of the shelf. She pulled it out and lifted it to examine it in the light. It was a small book with a dark red cover and a hand symbol on the front with the number "4" drawn in the center. Mabel instinctively put her hand to the symbol. The fingers were longer than hers and the hand was wide. She suspected a man's hand.

She was snapped back to her current situation by Pax's voice. "Belle, I think I found something." Mabel turned to see her friend had found a switch at the base of the mirror. Before she could say any word of warning, Pax flipped the switch and a light came from inside the mirror. The entire room was filled with a strange hum.

Mabel slipped the book into her jacket pocket and walked over to Pax. "What do you think it is?"

The light grew brighter. Pax shrugged. "I haven't a single clue." She stepped forward to examine it catching Mabel by surprise.

Before Mabel could pull her friend back, a sudden flash of light erupted from the mirror, striking Pax in the face. The blonde girl grabbed her face, holding her hands over her eyes.

Terror shot through Mabel. "Pax!" she exclaimed.

Pax removed her hands from her face and looked at Mabel. Her eyes burned with a bright light emanating from them. She spoke with a deep, booming voice that was definitely not Pax's. "MABEL PINES… TIME… RUPTURED."

"Pax?" Mabel asked, her voice trembling.

"NO… I AM NOT PACIFICA… SHE IS… UNHARMED… YOU ARE CHOSEN… BYPASS THE BAN… MUST SEND… BACK IN TIME... ONLY YOU… HEAL… RUPTURE."

"What?" Mabel felt stunned. "Where's Pax? Give me my sister back, you ass!"

"LURED HERE… TRAPPED… USED… TIME RUPTURED…"

The lights flickered and the deep red color returned.

Pax—or whoever was controlling her—frowned. "HEAL THE RUPTURE."

She grabbed Mabel with amazing strength and thrust her at the mirror as the air started to scream. Mabel had no idea how the air could scream, but it was.

To Mabel's surprise, she didn't hit the mirror, nor did it shatter. She felt herself being pulled into the glass and then felt herself being pulled apart as if she was being disassembled atom by atom.

After an interminable time where Mabel thought she might go mad, or perhaps she had gone mad and regained her sanity more than once, she felt herself being reassembled. She fell out of the mirror as the room around her exploded.

Everything ached, felt odd since she had no idea how long it had been since she had had an actual body. Her face felt like it was on fire. All she could hear was a high-pitched whine ringing in her ears, and she wondered if she was now deaf. As she gained awareness, Mabel realized she was lying in a heap, face-down on a dirty concrete floor. Looking up, she could see rubble and destruction around her along with sparks of electricity coming from exposed wiring.

She thought perhaps she could make out voices through the swirling clouds of dust, but the ringing in her ears was as loud as ever. She turned her head towards what she could best determine was the direction where the voices originated and saw figures. Mabel blinked hard trying to focus unused to having eyes again.

Standing in front of her looking very alarmed was a young boy with a blue and white trucker's hat similar to the hundreds she had sold in Grunkle Stan's gift shop for years… and at herself as a young girl with braces wearing a bright yellow sweater with balloons of various colors. Mabel remembered that sweater. It was one of her favorites as a child.


End file.
